Statue of Liberty climber charged for “dangerous stunt”

NEW YORK — A Fourth of July protester who scaled the base of the Statue of Liberty in what prosecutors call a “dangerous stunt” will face a judge in New York. Therese Patricia Okoumou is charged with trespassing, interference with government agency functions, and disorderly conduct.

Charges allege Okoumou refused to come down during a tense three-hour standoff, endangering her own life and the lives of the NYPD officers who responded. Court papers also charged Therese Okoumou with resisting arrest by refusing to leave her perch by the bottom of the statue’s robes, about 100 feet above ground. Police were forced to scale the statue to pull her down.

Det. Brian Glacken of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit said at press conference that Okoumou talked to them about the “children in Texas,” referring to the Trump administration’s policy that separated families who entered the country illegally. Officers put a harness and rope around her to get her down. About 16 officers participated in the rescue, police said.

In announcing the charges Thursday,  U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman called the incident a “dangerous stunt.”

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“While we must and do respect the rights of the people to peaceable protest, that right does not extend to breaking the law in ways that put others at risk,” Berman said in a statement.

U.S. Park Police Major Pamela Smith said the incident “caused disruption to thousands of visitors on one of the busiest days of the year at the Statue of Liberty.” The National Park Service decided to evacuate more than 4,000 visitors from Liberty Island on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” said spokesman Jerry Willis. Average attendance for the Fourth of July is 20,000 to 25,000 people, he added.

The park service was reviewing security videotape to try to determine how the woman made the climb, Willis said. It also was taking a closer look at the statue to see if there was any damage, though that’s unlikely, he said.

The copper-pounded skin is only the thickness of two pennies but “it’s strong,” he said.

“That statue has been out in the middle of New York Harbor for 130 years — with hurricanes and lightning and everything that nature has thrown at her,” he said. “She’s survived quite well.”

A National Park service spokesman told CBS New York’s Reena Roy Thursday that Okoumou used a ledge above a doorway on the public observation deck to hoist herself onto base of the monument.

Earlier in the day, at least six people who hung a banner emblazoned with a message about abolishing the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency from the statue’s pedestal were arrested. The sign read, “Abolish I.C.E.”

ICE is a division of the Department of Homeland Security whose officers arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants inside the U.S., among other duties.

A member of the protest group Rise and Resist, which hung the banner, told CBS News that the woman who climbed onto the statue’s pedestal was a fellow member, CBS News correspondent Anna Werner reports. She didn’t identify the woman but said the group wasn’t aware of her plans.

Okoumou, 44, of Staten Island, was expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Thursday. Members of the Rise and Resist group gathered outside court in Manhattan ahead of the appearance to show their support, reports CBS New York. One wore a sign that read, “Patricia, my heroine.”

If convicted, Okoumou would face up to six months behind bars on each count.

The name of her lawyer wasn’t immediately available.